The Profane Exhibit (2013)

Director: Jeremy Kasten, Uwe Boll, Ruggero Deodato, Anthony DiBlasi, Marian Dora, Ryan Nicholson, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Michael Todd Schneider, Sergio Stivaletti, Nacho Vigalondo

Year: 2013

Country: Canada/Italy/Germany/Spain

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Anthology

Plot:

A series of dark shorts from top international genre directors.

Review:

Mother May I- Living in a high-end monastery, a pair of teens trying to make their way through their headmistress’ crazy demands and brutal punishments for failing her teachings, realizing she has her own demons driving her along. This was a pretty underwhelming enough way to get things going. The central setup is there with the promise of some religious-horror shenanigans involving the lifestyle that’s being preached, the environment that the girls are subjected to, and the vague hints of something demonic influencing everything due to the visions of some grotesque being watching over everything that happens.  However, it’s all over so quick it’s barely registering what’s going on, it just seems to end without anything being resolved or paid off, and there’s far more room to explore things here that never get resolved, leaving this highly unsatisfying.

The Hell Chef-Desperate to get back at her boyfriend, a woman and her sister band together to teach him a lesson by letting her sister’s culinary skills go to use in preparing the boyfriend as a special meal for them. This was a rather entertaining segment that has a lot to like about it. The wacky scenario that goes far more over-the-top than even the expected standards here due to the creators involved makes for a highly enjoyable time as the sisters gleefully and enthusiastically cut the breayer to pieces in a ritualistic manner to ensure the full brunt of every cut is still viable. Some of the excessive storytelling is a bit unnecessary going into the backstory of the younger sister and what drove her to do this with her sister as that brings about a confusing ending, but the carnage and bloodshed raise this one significantly.

Basement-Trying to enjoy their lives, a couple resort to extreme measures to ensure their daughter continues to live in their basement to be his dirty plaything. This was a rather dark and disturbing effort but doesn’t have much else going for it. The subject matter on display and the means through which it’s achieved come about quite well here with the initial preparations for the meal and the parents going through their routines before then serving up an intriguing scenario that’s quite rather unexpected. By the time the final reveal comes, it’s shocking on its own but then there’s just a useless epilogue that serves to start a different story altogether but then ends without developing it or going further which leaves this disappointing and jarring for what’s going on. 

Bridge-In a remote section of Italy, a pair of children decide to hold court over a sacred bridge in the community and threaten anyone who dares to use it. This was an absolute waste of a segment that has very little purpose for being here. The dialogue-free running length ensures it’s a complete mystery as to what’s going on, there’s nothing here that makes any sense as we don’t know what anything is, and the whole thing feels like a punchline to something where we don’t know the setup to so it’s barely registered. With no creepy visuals, no gore, an ending that never registers as one beyond realizing the transition is happening to the wrap-around, and a brief length on a bloated roster of talent, this could’ve easily been removed without incident.

Tophet Quorum-Following the recovery of his dead daughter, his uninformed wife gives birth to what she suspects are twins only to learn the dark truth when she’s told only one made it through birth. This was a fine segment that comes off pretty nicely. The gruesome early discovery of the dead body and the scenario itself with the pregnant wife giving birth herself and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the birth offers a fine starting point for the gradual reveal of what’s going on. The interactions with the crazed beings living in their underground tunnels and the final reveal of the cult are rather dark and disturbing when their plan comes about, but it’s all rushed and could’ve used more time to breathe as this more than anything could’ve been the one to turn into a feature-length adaptation.

Goodwife-Living a double life in secret, a man’s affairs are soon discovered by his faithful wife who sets out to punish him for the indiscretions he’s committed against her. Overall, this was one of the more intriguing segments here. The involved story offers up some decent twists and turns with the double-life as a serial killer kidnapping, torturing, and sexually abusing women which includes how he treats her as the polar opposite that gets her going when the truth is revealed. The confrontation scene offers up the carnage with the brutality in what’s going on appearing suitably graphic and dark to go along with the twists featuring here, although it’s again way too rushed with it appearing unnatural how everything comes together as the brief running time means it rushes through things without letting it breathe.

Mors in Tabula-After visiting a family in need, a skilled surgeon finds that his techniques have left a strong impression on the family when they realize the extent of his work. This was a generally pathetic entry that ultimately means nothing important to the film as a whole. There’s nothing scary about what’s going on beyond the graphic scenes of the surgery being committed on a child, yet once you look past that there’s nothing here. Again, it feels like a punchline lost in context without much of anything to help build it up, it ends before anything remotely interesting happens, and has far more questions than anything due to its brief running time so with no gore and plenty of questions its involvement is quite suspicious.

Sins of the Father-Hoping for some closure, a man goes to extreme lengths to convince his geriatric and senile father to relive the night he abused his son. This was a pretty solid if not exactly horrific segment. Featuring more of a traumatic center at the heart of everything as he spends the entire setup trying to persuade his aging father to go through his failing memory to recount officially the night he was abused, the setup tells a pretty harsh tale that unravels nicely involving the various coercion techniques to bring the memories out. As visually interesting and brutal as the incidents appear as, the fact that none of it is scary or chilling does manage to come about here which is the main drawback to this one.

Manna-Taking up a new club, a man finds that he’s become the latest resident in a bizarre performance piece involving the regular performers of the club who brutally torture and kill their clients. This was a decent enough one-note segment that ends on a whimper. It’s simply all about the gore and torture here with the scenes of the guy getting carved open, dismembered, and sliced open to the point of having his innards removed in detail as this looks great and squirm-inducing. Beyond that, the dialogue-free running time and lack of context make this simply a one-note piece about the carnage on display as everything else is so confusing and jarring that it’s hard to get a handle on the meaning behind it all so nothing about what’s going on makes any sense. This works best as an intro piece to a greater exploration of what’s going on but as a brief standalone it’s hard to get into it.

Overview: **.5/5

An uneven overall though still pretty decent anthology effort, this one comes across rather disjointed at best with there not being a true standout segment and several that are just plain a chore to get through. Those who are fine with the material presented, don’t mind the drawbacks present, are huge anthology horror aficionados, or enjoy the creative crew will have the most to enjoy here while most others should heed caution.